Israel, on Tuesday, carried out airstrikes against Syrian regime forces amid reports of mass killing and ethnic cleansing of the country’s Druze minority.
“The IDF said Tuesday it launched airstrikes on Syrian regime military assets in the Druze-majority province of Sweida, following the entry of forces loyal to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa into the provincial capital earlier in the day,” the Israel media outlet Ynetnews reported Tuesday.
The IDF, on Tuesday afternoon, struck Syrian regime tanks and armoured vehicles approaching the Druze-majority city of Sweida. According to The Times of Israel, “Israel bombed Syrian government forces rolling into a Druze-majority city in southern Syria following days of ethnic fighting there.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intervened after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved a military plan to protect the country’s beleaguered Druze population from the Islamist-led Syrian regime forces.
“Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel, and their familial and historical ties to the Druze in Syria, and we are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them, and to ensure the demilitarization of the area adjacent to our border with Syria,” the Israeli goverment said in a statement Tuesday.
Druze are a tiny Arab minority spread largely across Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. They are considered ‘infidels’ by Islamists and often face hostile treatment from the surrounding Muslim populations. In March 2025, the Israeli military intervened to protect Druze from jihadist forces affiliated with the Syrian regime.
The Israeli military confirmed striking the Syrian regime’s tanks and armored vehicles advancing on Druze population centers. “Following the directive of the political echelon, a short while ago, the IDF began striking military vehicles belonging to Syrian regime forces in the area of As Suwayda in southern Syria,” the IDF said in a statement Tuesday.
“This follows yesterday evening’s (Monday) identification of Syrian regime convoys, including armored personnel carriers and tanks, moving toward the area of As-Suwayda in southern Syria,” the IDF added. “Subsequently, the IDF struck several armored fighting vehicles consisting of tanks, APCs, and MLRS, as well as access roads, in order to disrupt the convoys’ arrival to the area.”
The military “continues to monitor the developments, remains ready and prepared for various scenarios,” the IDF assured.
The newspaper Israel Hayom reported the details of the ongoing conflict in Syria:
Large columns of Syrian regime forces entered Sweida, the capital of the Druze mountain region and the largest concentration of the Druze minority in the country, on Tuesday morning, a day after Israel intervened to help protect the community, which has a sizeable representation in the Jewish state. The incursion follows days of clashes between Druze militias and forces loyal to the Damascus government. The troops were accompanied by armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery.According to reports from Syrian media, a mass exodus of Druze residents from the city has begun, driven by fears of reprisals by the regime against the minority, similar to those experienced by the Alawite minority in the western coastal region. Syrian television reported that despite the Druze leadership’s decision to lay down arms, fierce street battles continue in Sweida.Meanwhile, another Israeli strike in southern Syria was reported. According to reports, the attack was intended to prevent the advancement of regime forces. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the IDF chief of staff, and the defense minister held a telephone consultation today regarding recent developments in Syria and the attacks on the Druze. (…)The As-Sweida24 website reports street battles and clashes in Sweida city. In neighborhoods entered by Defense Ministry and Internal Security forces, anarchy prevails, with looting and burning of property and shops. Simultaneously, a mass exodus of residents from the city is taking place, according to the website’s sources. Videos uploaded to social networks show regime fighters abusing Druze militia members who were captured.The regime’s forces are equipped with a significant number of armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery, while the Druze militias, which have jointly controlled the area since the civil war, are armed only with light weapons. On Monday, Israel targeted several regime tanks in the region, and Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that Israel would not permit Syrian armored forces to operate in the area.
Despite media reports of a ceasefire announcement by Damascus, forces loyal to the regime continued their attacks on the Druze minority in the area. “A leader of Syria’s Druze religious minority has accused the government of violating a ceasefire agreement aimed at halting deadly fighting between local militias and factions in the country’s southern Sweida province,” the French TV channel Euronews reported Tuesday. “Government security forces that were deployed to the city of Sweida — the provincial capital — on Monday to restore order also clashed with Druze armed groups.”
Israeli fighter jets also struck a terrorist training camp belonging to Hezbollah Redwan Forces “deep inside Lebanon,” Israeli media reports say. “Israeli warplanes struck deep into Lebanon overnight, targeting Hezbollah strongholds and elite Radwan Force compounds roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Israeli border, the IDF said Tuesday, marking an unusually extensive wave of airstrikes,” Ynetnews reported.
Hezbollah’s Iranian-trained Radwan Forces have long been planning an October 7-style terror attack on Israel. The Radwan Forces’ “Conquer the Galilee” plan, exposed by the IDF in October 2024, seeks to invade Israel from the north, murdering and capturing thousands of Israeli civilians.
“Earlier today(…), the Israeli Air Force struck sites in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, targeting military compounds used by Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, terrorists, and weapons storage facilities used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” the IDF confirmed Tuesday.
“Moments ago, Israeli Air Force fighter jets, directed by the Intelligence Directorate and the Northern Command, began numerous strikes toward Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Beqaa, Lebanon,” the IDF said in a separate statement on Tuesday. “The military compounds that were struck were used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization for training and exercising terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
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